Drug promises robust new hair growth

A new method of restoring hair growth - using drugs that are already approved for safety - may be on the way, according to research published in Science Advances.

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center in New York have found that when hair follicles are suspended in a resting state, rapid and robust growth can be restored by inhibiting a family of enzymes inside the follicles.

Hair follicles do not produce hair constantly but rather cycle between four resting and growing phases.

More than 90% of the hair is normally in the growing phase, "anagen," which can last from 2-6 years.

The relatively short catagen phase follows, when the follicle regresses and moves toward the surface. "Telogen" is the resting phase, and "exogen" is when the hair falls out before the follicle resumes growth.

Generally, the longer the hair, the longer the phases are; long hair tends to grow more slowly.

Enzyme inhibitors promote growth:
In experiments with normal mouse and human hair follicles, Dr. Angela Christiano, PhD, and colleagues found that drugs that inhibit the Janus kinase (JAK) family of enzymes promote rapid and robust hair growth when directly applied to the skin.

Fast facts about male baldness

• 95% of male baldness is due to androgenetic alopecia
• By age 35, 2 in 3 men in the US will have noticeable hair loss
• In 25% of men, hair loss begins before age 21.

This suggests that JAK inhibitors could be used to restore hair growth in various forms of hair loss, such as that induced by male pattern baldness - also called androgenetic alopecia - and other types of hair loss that occur when hair follicles are trapped in a resting state.

Two JAK inhibitors have already been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), one for treatment of blood diseases (ruxolitinib) and the other for rheumatoid arthritis (tofacitinib).

Both are being tested in clinical trials for the treatment of plaquepsoriasis and alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that attacks the follicles, causing hair loss.

It was while studying alopecia areata that the researchers chanced upon the effect of JAK inhibitors on hair follicles.

They had already found that JAK inhibitors shut off the signal that causes the autoimmune attack, and that oral forms of the drug restore hair growth in some people with the disorder.

Source:medicalnewstoday.com

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